The last club training session before Christmas is on Thursday 18th December and the first club session in the New Year is Monday 5th January. If you train on the track between these dates, please pay the Rangers before starting your session.

Our Senior Men competed in the Birmingham & District Cross Country League on Saturday whilst our younger athletes travelled to Newbold Revell in the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross County League on Sunday.

At the Birmingham & District League meeting at Betley Court our team was depleted through illness but Henry Webb and Bill Chesters had great runs to finish 18th and 24th respectively. Darrell Wilde came 130th with Matt Bonney (141st), Danny Leighton (153rd), Tom Orton (154th) and Craig Pearson (162nd) following.

Brandan Smart continued his excellent form in winning the U15B race in the WMYACCL. Charlie Cresswell finished 2nd, Finlay Stanton 7th and Henry Orton 18th out of the 59 athletes who completed the race.

In the U17M there was another top ten performance, this time from Jack Hadley who finished 5th. Luke Cresswell was 19th in the same race.

Isla Unitt was our only female runner on the day and she came a fantastic 16th of the 77 finishers.

It’s been another relatively successful year in a competitive sense but a challenging one in maintaining the running of the club.

Many of you will be aware that Steve and Carole Jones retired from their roles in September. What you may not know is the massive holes that this left in terms of the structure of the club. On a coaching side, they both managed the Development Group which looks after the large majority of our U15 athletes. In addition, Carole was Treasurer and Chief Welfare Officer. They were a big part in our club operating smoothly and I am extremely grateful for all of the time and work that they put in and I appreciate the notice they gave to allow us time to try and find replacements.

Helen Walker also stepped back after many years in her role as Membership Secretary and, again, I’d like to thank Helen for continuing doing this job, long after her daughter had stopped competing.

I’d like to express my gratitude to Mandy Hopkins and Cheryl Clarke for stepping forward to take on the running of the Development Group, along with Bob and the parents that assist in the running of the sessions on a Tuesday night. Without them, we would have had to close the group and lose most of the young athletes in the club.

I’d also like to thank Julie Jeffries for taking over the role of Chief Welfare Officer, Jayne Wilde for taking over the Treasurer’s position and Alyson Ainge for taking over from Helen as Membership Secretary.

In April, I made an appeal on our Facebook Group and website for volunteers to assist undertaking a variety of roles that would alleviate the pressure on those few currently undertaking them. Disappointingly, I had NO replies! If you would like to help out, please see me. The roles are still listed on the Club’s news page on the website (dated 15 April 2025)

To all of our other volunteers who have helped in coaching, officiating, managing and running all of our teams and carrying out the administration of the Club – Thank You! All of them give up their time for no payment to enable our athletes enjoy their sport.

Away from the organisational side of the club, on road, grass and track & field, things have been a lot smoother.

In team competition, the Senior Men’s cross country team gained promotion from Division 2 in both the Birmingham and District and the North Staffs Cross Country Leagues in the 2024/25 season but have failed to field a team in the North Staffs League so far this season which will lead to automatic relegation.

On the road, our U15B team of Finlay Stanton, Charlie Cresswell and Brandan Smart won gold in the Midland Road Relay Championships

On the track, the number of our young athletes taking part in the U17/U20 YDL meetings remained pretty consistent when compared to last year. Once again, we won our division by winning all three fixtures.

In the U13/U15 age group, we had a small increase in the number of female athletes who competed for us whilst maintaining male numbers. This year we finished fourth in our division.

It will be interesting to see how we, and indeed the whole of the YDL, cope with the Age Group changes imposed on us by our National Governing Body next season. The U20 competition will be pretty much decimated by the changes and I’ve got a feeling that most U20 spots will be filled by U17 athletes.

Our Senior League team performed excellently to finish third to maintain their place in Division 2 of the Midlands League. Once again, this competition has provided us with excellent opposition for our athletes along with great development opportunities for our top younger athletes.

Our Men’s and Women’s veteran teams again retained their Midland Veterans League North Division titles. Congratulations to all of the athletes who contributed and to Craig Pearson and Rob Law who managed the men’s team and Emma Hollinshead who organised the women.

One of my favourite days of the season was at the National Relay Championships at Alexander Stadium. Teams are invited to take part based on their National Rankings and we received four invites for our U17W 4x300m, U20W 4x100m, SW 4x100m and SW 4x400m teams. Nine of our women were involved and we had a sixth and two fourth place finishes and gold medals for our 4x300 team of Joyella Jeffries, Ella Haycock, Larna Watkins and Sophie Hulse!

Over the season, there were also a number of C&S athletes who achieved individual success. I apologise if I have missed anyone out. I’ve tried to mention all achievements at area level or above.

We’ve had six new age group club records. Joyella Jeffries in the U17W 300 and 400m, Ben Allen in the U17M 3000m and Lila Pearce in the U13G 800, 1200 and 1500m. Plenty of our veteran club records have also been broken.

Ben Allen, Callum Pearson, Brandan Smart, Finlay Stanton, Sophie Hulse, Joyella Jeffries represented Staffordshire in the English Schools Championships at Alexander Stadium (with Jack Hadley and Georgia Griffiths unfortunately being unable to compete after being selected) whilst Brandan Smart, Charlie Cresswell and Finlay Stanton were all part of the Staffordshire Junior Boys team that won gold at the English Schools Cross Country Championships in West Sussex. Ben Allen, Jack Hadley, Zach Bent, Beth Beeson and Katherine Grainger also represented Staffordshire at the event.

Craig Carr, Malcolm Eustace, Darrell Wilde, Keri Lees, Vici Browning and Heather Bates all won medals at BMAF T&F Championships and Craig and Malcolm also won medals at the European Masters Championships in Madeira.

Malcolm Eustace was selected to represent England Masters in both a 5K International and Cross Country International and Nina Skilton competed for England in a Representative Trail Race.

At the Midlands Cross Country Championships, Finlay Stanton won a silver medal and in the Midlands Track & Field Championships, Matilda Perry, Joyella Jeffries, Sophie Hulse, Ben Allen and Allegra Soutar all won medals.

All in all, another very successful season for our athletes.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy Christmas and a successful New Year.

Shaun Ainge

Chairman

Our Senior Men were back in Division One action at the Birmingham & District Cross Country League meeting at Newbold Comyn.

With a team of eleven athletes, Bill Chesters was first to complete the course in 34th place. Less than a minute behind Bill was Ryan Ashforth in 51st. Tom Eustace finished 133rd and James Russell 146th. Jordan Barrett (168th) and Phil Wolfe (182nd) were our two other scorers and they were supported by Matt Bonney (192nd), Danny Leighton (213rd), Christian Roe (221st), Tom Orton (223rd) and Craig Pearson (231st).

We have been given one club place in next years London Marathon. If you wish to be included in the draw for this entry, please let me know by 11.59pm on 15 November 2025. To be able to enter, you have to satisfy the following criteria:

You need to have been a club member continuously for at least the last 3 years and can't have won the club place previously.

The winner will still need to pay for their entry.

Cannock & Stafford's Senior Men had two teams enter the National Cross Country Relays in Mansfield last Saturday (1 November).

Of 172 teams that completed the race, our two teams finished in 60th and 101st places.

Our 'A' team consisted of Bill Chesters, who ran the first leg in 16:43.75, Ryan Ashforth (17:02.39), Tom Eustace (17:43.71) and Jon Biddle (18:31.70), combining for a team time of 1:10:01.55

Robbie Gorman led off our 'B' team with a 19:22.69 leg and was followed by James Russell (18:39.92), Danny Leighton (20:18.18) and Craig Pearson (21:05.68). This added to a team time of 1:19:26.47

There was success for Cannock & Stafford athletes at the European Masters Championships in Madeira.

Craig Carr competed in the 400m before many of our other athletes had arrived on the island. In a stadium in the most picturesque setting, on the first day of competition Craig won his M45 heat in 52.30. The following day, he also won his semi-final in 52.60 before earning a well deserved bronze medal in the final with a time of 52.36.

On Saturday, the same day as Craig won his medal, Darrell Wilde smashed his PB by over 10 seconds in the M55 3000m steeplechase, finishing 7th in 11:42.13.

Sunday saw Mitch Blundell finish 9th in the M40 1500m in a time of 4:21.69 and Malcolm Eustace win the first of his medals in a remarkable competition for him. He won silver in the individual race in the M65 8km cross country which also won him a bronze with the GB team with the top three positions for each country contributing to an aggregate time.

On Tuesday, it was a change of setting for Malcolm as he finished 4th on the track in the M65 5000m in 19:01.03 and then he had a day off before swapping to the road for a 10k race on Thursday where he won individual bronze and team gold!

Sue Kneill-Boxley was our final athlete to compete at the Championships and, on Friday, she ran a season's best in the 800m to finish 8th in her heat in a time of 2:59.02.

Well done to you all!

For the first time in many years, last Sunday (12th), we fielded a full team of U15 boys in the WMYACCL and they put in a magnificent team performance to finish first with Brandan Smart winning the individual race. Lila Pearce also won her U13 race to cap a great day for our runners.

Brandan was excellently supported by Charlie Cresswell (4th), Finlay Stanton (7th), Henry Orton (21st) and Fraser Stamp (28th).

Lila finished 5 seconds ahead of the field in the U13G race in which Poppy Brisco also ran, finishing 66th.

Jack Hadley was the highest of our finishers in the U17M race in 7th place with Luke Cresswell in 27th and Callum Pearson 30th.

In the U17W race, Aimee Waters came 22nd and Olivia Stamp 46th and Isla Unitt finished 21st in the U15G.

Our U15B 'A' team of Charlie Cresswell (12:59), Finlay Stanton (13:01) and Brandan Smart (12:47) finished 8th out of 93 teams in the National Road Relay Championships at a windy Sutton Park today. Our U15 'B' team of Fraser Stamp (15:13), Harrison Smith (16:17) and Henry Orton (13:39) came 63rd.

In the U17M race, our 'A' team came 11th out of 89 teams with Callum Pearson (12:38) leading off the team before handing to Jack Hadley (12:20) and Ben Allen (11:59). The C&S 'B' team of Luke Cresswell (13:48), Alfie Blackett (13:22) and George Millinchip (14:34) finished in 65th place.

We are sad to announce that Terry Faulkner passed away on Saturday 20 September at the age of 84. Terry holds a number of club records for the veteran age groups from M65 up and was determined to race into his 80s, which he succeeded in doing.

Our condolences go to his wife, Carole, family and friends.

Congratulations to Nina Skilton who represented England in a trail race against Wales at the Forest of Dean on Sunday and finished second in her age category.

Nina was the first of the England team to finish, completing the half marathon course in 1:34:09.54

Lila Pearce continued her good form with victory at the first NSCCL meeting of the season in the U13G race. Poppy Brisco came 17th in the same race.

Our Senior Women all ran well to finish second in Division 2. Nina Skilton led the way, finishing 17th and was supported by Natalie Griffiths in 26th, Megan Forrest, making her debut, in 33rd and Sue Kneill-Boxley in 63rd.

Our U17W also finished second with Ella-Rose Ross coming home in 5th place, followed by Elodie Pilsbury in 7th and Millie Johnson in 8th.

Katherine Grainger came 8th in the U15G race and Livia Parsons finished just behind in 9th.

Eva Calley was our only competitor in the U11G, finishing in 20th place whilst Lucas Stanton (9th) and Henry Grainger (31st) ran in the U11B.

In the U15B, Harrison Smith came 17th and another debutant, Jack Pattinson came 20th. Dan Gambrill finished 62nd in the Senior Men's race with Carl Pearce finishing 91st.

The event also doubled up as a trial for the England Masters Cross Country team and Malcolm Eustace earned his place with victory in the M65 category and will be joined by Nina who came 2nd in the W55 age group.

Our U15B 'A' team became Midland Road Relay Champions in the event at Sutton Park on Saturday (20th).

Charlie Cresswell, Finlay Stanton and Brandan Smart all appeared in the list of the fastest 10 legs overall and, as a team, they combined to win the race by 12 seconds.

Fraser Stamp, Henry Orton and Harrison Smith formed a second team in the same age group and they finished 28th.

Lila Pearce was a sole runner in the U13G race but had the honour of running the fastest leg out of just over 100 athletes.

In the U17M, Luke Cresswell, Callum Pearson and Jack Hadley came 13th of 34 teams that completed the race and in the SM race, our team of Bill Chesters, Jordan Barrett, James Russell, Phil Wolfe, Robbie Gorman and Danny Leighton came 49th of 98 teams.

Three C&S athletes won gold medals and two won bronze at the British Master Championships at Moorways Stadium over the weekend.

Malcolm Eustace followed his recent 5000m success with victory in the M65 1500m, finishing in 4:58.49.

Darrell Wilde took gold in the M55 3000m steeplechase in 12:01.49 and Keri Lees won the W50 300m hurdles in 49.12.

There were also bronze medals for Vici Browning in the W50 800m (2:42.08) and Heather Bates in the W40 high jump (1.15). Vici also ran in the 400m, finishing fourth in 71.64 and Heather came 5th in the 200m in 29.90.

In the 800m races, Sue Kneill-Boxley ran 3:05.51 to finish 5th in the W55 race and Andy Cotterill came 6th in the M50 race in 2:17.00.

Mitch Blundell came 9th in the M40 1500m in 4:26.29 and Tunde Adeyemo finished 5th in the M45 100m (12.78 (+0.8)), 8th overall in the 400m (56.53) and 13th overall in the 200m with a season's best 24.95 (+1.0)

Malcolm Eustace won a silver medal at the BMAF 5000m Championships at Nuneaton on Sunday (24th).

Competing in the M65 category, Malcolm ran 18:45.47 to finish second.

Malcolm Down finished 8th in the M60 race in a time of 20:10.39.

Four C&S teams were invited to take part in the National Relay Championships based on their Pof10 rankings and, against the biggest clubs in the Country, they did the club proud.

The U20W 4x100 team of Joyella Jeffries, Mia Wainwright, Sophie Hulse and Matilda Perry were first to race and, in their semi-final, they were initially placed fourth in 48.75 which would have meant they were eliminated. However, Bolton United Harriers were disqualified which gave Cannock & Stafford the final non automatic qualifier spot. In the final, our ladies ran brilliantly to finish fourth with an improved time of 48.14 which may be a new club record (subject to checks)

Three of the U20 team also ran in the Senior Women's 4x100m, which competed in a straight final, with the only change being Stella Perrett who came in for Matilda Perry. The team came sixth in 48.09, the fastest time run by a Cannock & Stafford Women's team for many years.

The U17W 4x300m team were next to race. Prior to the competition, they were ranked as the sixth fastest club in the country. The twelve teams were split into two races with the medals decided on time. We were in the second race.

Joyella Jeffries ran the first leg and moved into the lead around the top bend to hand over to Larna Watkins level with the Cambridge athlete. Larna continued her excellent form, moving into the lead over the first 100m and extending the lead to around 25m before handing over to Ella Haycock. Ella also ran a strong leg and, despite being caught by the Woodford Green athlete, she pushed over the last 40m to hand over to Sophie Hulse neck and neck with the number one ranked Woodford Green team. Sophie ran a fantastic leg, gradually moving away from the rest of the field to finish in 2:46.65, over five seconds faster than their season's best and, subject to checks, a new club record. There was a short period while everyone checked the time from the previous race before it was confirmed that they had beaten the winner of that race by a quarter of a second to take gold and become the quickest club team in the UK.

Finally, our SW 4x400m quartet of Stella Perrett, Natalie Griffiths, Mia Wainwright and Chloe Wilde all ran great legs to finish fourth in 3:58.56, the first time that our Senior Women have gone below 4 minutes since 2022.

Heather Bates and Mitch Blundell represented Midland Masters in the Masters Inter-Area Challenge in York on Sunday (17th).

Heather had a busy day. She cleared a PB of 1.20m in the W35 high jump to finish 6th and also finished 7th in both the W35 100m (14.47 (+0.9)) and W35 200m (29.98 (+1.1)) as well as running in the 4x100m relay.

Mitch came 4th in the M35 800m in 2:09.65.

Brandan Smart and Callum Pearson ran in the 800m on the first day of the England Athletics Age Group Championships at Alexander Stadium on Friday.

The U15B 800m was a straight final with 12 athletes taking part and Brandan ran his third fastest time ever of 2:05.57 to finish 11th.

Callum ran in the first of two semi finals in the U17M event with the first three + the three fastest non automatic qualifiers progressing. A strong finish saw him finish in fourth position in a time of 1:58.77 but, unfortunately, the second semi was a quicker race which resulted in Callum just missing out on a place in the final.

On Saturday, Sophie Hulse automatically qualified for the U17W semi-final by finishing third in her heat in 12.43 (+0.4). In the semi-final, Sophie ran 12.25 (+0.1) to finish 5th.

Joyella Jeffries and Larna Watkins both ran in the U17W 300m. Joyella ran in the first of four semi-finals and came second in 39.99 which qualified her for the following day's final as one of the fastest non automatic qualifiers. Larna came 7th in her heat in 42.40.

On Sunday, Sophie qualified from her 200m heat by finishing third in 25.54 (+1.1) and in the semi-final, with only the top three qualifying for the final, Sophie came 4th in 25.56 (-0.5).

In the 300m final, Joyella came 8th of the 9 competitors, knocking over half a second off her semi-final time to finish in 39.46.

Congratulations to all five of our athletes in achieving the standard necessary to compete at these championships.

Four of our athletes were in action at the National U20 / Senior Championships at Alexander Stadium over the weekend.

On Friday, Joyella Jeffries scraped through to the semi-final of the U20W 400m as one of the non automatic qualifiers after finishing fifth in her heat in 58.38. Sophie Hulse gained automatic qualification from her U20W 100m heat, finishing third in 12.28 (+0.5)

On Saturday, both athletes ran in their semi-finals. Joyella gave a much improved performance to finish fifth in her 400m semi-final in 56.92 and Sophie also came fifth in her 100m semi in 12.19 (+2.4)

Matilda Perry had an impressive set of jumps in her U20W long jump competition, recording over 5.70m on three occasions. Her best was a wind assisted 5.78m and she also jumped a legal pb of 5.76m (+2.0) to finish seventh.

Sophie was back in action in the U20W 200m on Sunday and automatically qualified in third place from her heat, running 25.50 (+0.1). In the semi-final, she ran 25.31 (+1.1), finishing seventh.

Stella Perrett was our only Senior athlete in action and, running in the same 200m heat as Katarina Johnson-Thompson, came seventh with a wind assisted 25.03 (+3.1)

Sophie Hulse and Joyella Jeffries both made finals at the English Schools Championships at Alexander Stadium.

Six Cannock & Stafford athletes competed for Staffordshire at the event with Jack Hadley and Georgia Griffiths, who were both selected, unfortunately unable to take part.

In the Junior Boys 800m, Brandan Smart ran his second fastest ever time of 2:04.73 to finish 8th in his heat. Callum Pearson also took part in the 800m in the Inter Boys category, finishing third in his heat in a time of 1:58.51, the seventh time he has run below 2 minutes this season.

In the Inter Boys 3000m, Ben Allen briefly led his heat and finished tenth in 9:07.44. Finlay Stanton, in the first year of the Junior Boys age group, came 11th in his 1500m race in 4:32.27.

In races where only the winner and the next four fastest times progressed to the final, it was always going to be a tough task for Sophie Hulse and Joyella Jeffries to make their finals but both ran PBs to progress.

In the IG 200m, Sophie ran 24.66 (+0.8) to finish second in her heat and then came 7th in the final with 24.84 (+0.2).

Joyella also came second in her 300m heat with a new club record of 39.38 and then also finished seventh in the final, lowering her time to 39.36.

We're obviously aware that it's been very warm recently but please note that tops must be worn at club training sessions.

It has been noted that there are athletes that have been training at club sessions recently without wearing tops.

This is against the club's rules (please read the Track Etiquette), is bad practice and potentially dangerous (skin cancers).

Two more club records were broken on Sunday (29th).

Joyella Jeffries smashed her own U17 400m record by running 55.79 at Nuneaton and Lila Pearce broke the U13G 1200m record with a time of 3:50.6 at Worcester on Sunday

The four Cannock & Stafford athletes that competed at the Midland U20 / Senior Championships won seven medals between them.

Allegra Soutar was our only Senior athlete in action and she won silver medals in both the 800m (2:32.55) and 1500m (5:14.03)

In the U20W 100m, Sophie Hulse, stepping up an age group, won her semi-final in 12.20 (+3.8) and Matilda Perry also finished first in her semi in 12.15 (+3.3). In the final, it was Sophie who had the edge, taking gold in 11.97 (+2.2) with Tilly winning silver with 12.10.

On Sunday, Sophie qualified for the U20W 200m final by finishing second in her semi with 25.04 (+2.0) and then ran 24.67 (+2.9) in the final to finish fourth. She also competed in the long jump where she came second to Tilly. Sophie jumping 5.19 and Tilly 5.54m.

Another athlete stepping up an age group, Joyella Jeffries, competed in the U20W 400m. After scraping through to the 400m final as the last of the non automatic qualifiers on Saturday with 58.35, Joyella knocked over half a second off her PB in the final to win silver in a time of 55.79.

Eight Cannock & Stafford athletes have been announced in the Staffordshire Schools team to compete at the ESAA Championships at Alexander Stadium.

In the Junior Boys, Brandan Smart earned his 800m spot with a great run of 2:03.16 in the Mason Trophy last weekend. Finlay Stanton joins him in the JB team running the 1500m.

In the Inter Boys, Callum Pearson (800m), Jack Hadley (1500m) and Ben Allen (3000m) have been selected.

Sophie Hulse (200m), Joyella Jeffries (300m) and Georgia Griffiths (1500m steeplechase) are competing in the Inter Girls events.

Congratulations to you all!

There were medals for Sophie Hulse, Sophie Williams and Joyella Jeffries at the Mason Trophy on Saturday. Sophie H won gold in the 200m and bronze in both the 100m and relay, Sophie W bronze in the shot and Joyella silver in the 300m.

Joyella Jeffries broke two U17 club records over the weekend of 14/15 June.

On Saturday, at the County School Championships, she ran 39.4 in the 300m heat and then, in the Midland Senior League meeting at Rugby on Sunday, she broke the 400m record with a time of 56.33.

Sophie Hulse won gold in the long jump and 200m and bronze in the 100m and Ben Allen won silver in the 3000m at the Midland U15/U17 Championships at Nuneaton.

On Saturday, Sophie won the U17W long jump with 5.25m, finishing over 40cm ahead of the second placed athlete. In the 100m, after qualifying third in her heat with a wind assisted 12.29, Sophie won bronze in the final with a legal 12.17 seconds.

In the 200m heat on Sunday, Sophie ran a PB of 24.96 to win her heat and then took first place in the final with a wind assisted 24.45 (+3.4).

Ben Allen took home a silver in the U17M 3000m. Sitting on the shoulder of the eventual winner for much of the race, Ben finished with a time of 8:51.69.

Finlay Stanton was our only other athlete taking part and he came 7th in the U15B 1500m with a time of 4:27.67.

Ben Allen broke an U17 club record that had stood for over 45 years on Saturday at Loughborough. Ben's 3000m time of 8:46.61 beat the record previously held by Ken Baker (8:46.8)

At the University of Birmingham last Wednesday (28th), Lila Pearce broke the existing U13G 1500m record by over 3 seconds, clocking a time of 4:57.47

Well done to both athletes.

Congratulations to Malcolm Eustace who represented England in a Masters 5K International meeting between England and Wales at the Shrewsbury 5K Festival yesterday (17th).

Malcolm won his age category with a time of 18:21, 15 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

We have three Bank Holiday Mondays coming up before the end of May.

Note that there will be no Club evening sessions on the 21 April, 5 May or 26 May.

Please see your coaches for arrangements if you normally train on a Monday. Anyone training on the track at any time on these dates must pay the Rangers directly before training.

Are you interested in volunteering to help the club out? If so, please let us know.

There are a large number of tasks that make the club work. As well as the visible ones such as coaching and officiating there are a number of roles behind the scenes that are really important.

These roles may or may not be immediately vacant but it's good to have a list of people available for when they are.

Some of the volunteer roles at the club include:-

• Team management - Are you an experienced athlete interested in liaising with our coaches to select one of our teams?

• Meeting Organiser - Each season we are asked to host meetings. Obviously these can't be held at Rowley Park but we hold them at other venues such as Burton or Telford. This role includes booking the venue, first aid, organising scorers, food for officials etc.

• Officials - We always need track, field or timekeeping officials. It is a requirement for us to provide them at our league meetings. Training is provided and the small course fee will be covered by the club as long as you volunteer at a small number of meetings each season

• Officials co-ordinator - organise the required number of officials to attend each meeting.

• Legal - Ensure the Club's policies are up to date and in accordance with our Governing Body's.

• Attendance Register - Keep an attendance register of athletes attending training sessions each evening by co-ordinating lists forwarded by the coaches.

• Club clothing - co-ordinate clothing orders, collection and distribution.

• Webmaster - Maintain the website, updating regularly to keep members informed. Updating policies and other information to comply with England Athletics requirements

• Health and Safety - Keep risk assessments for track & field and off track activities updated.

This list is certainly not exhaustive so if you have a skill that you think we may find useful, please let us know (Contact Shaun or any of the Committee).

After a few months of working alongside Helen Walker, Alyson Ainge has now taken over the Club's Membership Secretary role.

Helen has done a brilliant job over many years and we are extremely grateful for the service she has given.

Helen came to the club with her daughters, Olivia and Georgia and, for a while, helped me time sessions with my sprint group, even trying out flags and walkie talkies in an effort to communicate from the other side of the track!

Helen took over the Membership Secretary's role from Carole Jones over 10 years ago and was awarded Life Membership of the Club for her service at last year's AGM.

Our Senior Men finished 21st of over 60 teams that entered the Midland Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday.

Our team was lead off by Tom Eustace who ran the quickest leg of our runners of 16.18. Tom was followed by Bill Chesters who ran the 10th fastest leg of all of the second leg runners (16:30).

Mitch Blundell (17:30),Ryan Ashforth (17:07), Connor Mills (17:06) and Jordan Barrett (18:06) were our next runners and at the half way stage we were in 16th position.

Phil Wolfe ran a 18:21 leg and James McCann 17.47. Malcolm Eustace (19:26) and Darrell Wilde (19:43) were next and Scott Rabin (20:53) and Mitch Corrie (18:46), on his C&S debut, brought the team home.

The Staffordshire Schools Junior Boys, which included three Cannock & Stafford athletes, finished in first place for the first time for over forty years at the English Schools Cross Country Championships in West Sussex on Saturday (15th).

Brandan Smart (32nd), Charlie Cresswell (33rd) and Finlay Stanton (71st) were all members of the winning team.

Ben Allen was the highest finishing C&S runner, coming home in 16th position in an Inter Boys race of 327 finishers. Jack Hadley came 51st and Zach Bent 296th in the same race.

In the Junior Girls race, Beth Beeson finished 304th and Katherine Grainger 317th.

Congratulations to all of the C&S athletes on their selection and performances!

Nine of our athletes represented Staffordshire at the Inter County Cross Country Championships at Wollaton Park.

In the Senior Men's race, Bill Chesters came 159th and Tom Eustace 173rd out of the 275 athletes that completed the course.

Finlay Stanton finished 24th out of 313 runners in the U13B race and Brandan Smart came 108th in the U15B. In the U17M, Ben Allen (50th) and Jack Hadley (181st) ran in a field of 290 athletes.

Phoebe Segrove came 270th in the U13G and Katherine Grainger (238th) and Beth Beeson (247th) ran in the U15G

Craig Carr won two gold medals at the BMAF Indoor Championships at Lee Valley at the weekend. On Saturday, Craig finished second in the M45 200m in 24.60 but, as the winner was an Irish guest athlete, Craig won his first gold. On Sunday Craig ran a PB of 7.72 to finish second in a 60m heat. This proved a nice warm up for his 400m race where he smashed his PB by over a second to move to number one in the British Rankings for his age group with a time of 53.53.

Over in Ireland, John Kirby competed in the Irish Senior Championships. In his 400m heat, John ran a season's best of 50.50 to finish second and automatically qualify for the semi-final. Later the same day, John came 5th in his semi-final in 51.03.

Cannock & Stafford AC had two athletes competing at the National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill, London.

Finlay Stanton finished an excellent 17th out of 318 competitors in the U13B and Bill Chesters 261st out of 1783 who completed the Senior Men's race.

Cannock & Stafford had two athletes representing their universities at the BUCS Indoor Championships at Sheffield last weekend.

In the 3000m, Katie Burney ran 10:51.27 to finish 11th in her heat representing Sheffield Hallam.

In the 200m, Matilda Perry, representing Cardiff Met, won her heat in 25.61 before improving her time to 25.49 to finish 4th in the semi-final. Tilly also took part in the long jump, qualifying from her pool with 5.50m and then jumping 5.24m in the final, which was unfortunately timetabled straight after her 200m semi-final.

In the penultimate event of the meeting, Tilly won a gold medal as part of the Cardiff Met 4x200m relay team that won the race in 1:40.59.

Craig Carr, representing Midland Masters and Andy Weetman, representing Welsh Masters, both competed at the England Masters Inter Area Challenge at Lee Valley on Sunday.

Craig was selected to run in the M35 200m race and recorded a PB of 24.27 to finish third and break his own club record in the process. Andy ran in both the 60m (8.62) and the 200m, where he finished 6th overall with 29.25.

Congratulations to our Senior Men who gained promotion to Division 1 of the Birmingham & District Cross Country League at Aldersley Stadium on Saturday (8th).

Tom Eustace was the first C&S athlete to complete the course, finishing 6th. Bill Chesters and Ryan Ashforth also finished in the top ten, in 8th and 10th respectively. James Russell came 46th, Jordan Barrett 50th and Phil Wolfe was the last of the 'A' team scorers in 62nd.

They were well supported by Dan Gambrill (105th), Darrell Wilde (113th), Sam Cartlidge (115th), Craig Pearson (123rd), Danny Leighton (146th) and Tom Orton (159th) as the team finished second on the day and second overall in the league.

On Sunday, in the WMYACCL meeting at Nuneaton, Finlay Stanton finished the season in a fantastic third place overall after coming second in his U13B race.

In the U17M, Jack Hadley came home fourth to finish the season in eighth place overall. Brandan Smart came 10th in the U15B, and Henry Orton 27th in the U13B.

Katherine Grainger finished 27th and Inara Webster 36th in the U15G and Phoebe Segrove 66th in the U13G.

The National Age Group Championships were held at EIS, Sheffield at the weekend and there was plenty of Cannock & Stafford interest.

On Saturday, Sophie Hulse was our first athlete to compete and she came 4th in her U17W 60m heat in 7.99. Joyella Jeffries ran 40.90 to finish 4th in her 300m heat to qualify for the semi-final where she ran 40.86, finishing fourth, missing a place in the final by less than a tenth of a second.

Callum Pearson booked his spot in the U17M 800m final by finishing second with his second ever fastest time of 1:58.81 and Georgia Griffiths ran a season's best of 2:16.97 to finish third in her U17W 800m heat.

The U20W long jump took place at 5pm on Day 1 and Matilda Perry jumped a pb of 5.69m to finish 6th in the competition.

On Day 2 of the event, four of our athletes ran in the 200m. Sophie Hulse came second in her heat with a 25.51 run to qualify for the semi-final where she came 5th in 26.89. Thomas Stephens came 4th in his heat with 24.11.

Matilda Perry qualified in second place from her U20W heat with 25.53 and later ran 25.52 to finish third in her semi whilst Mia Wainwright came 3rd in her heat with 26.40.

In the U17M 800m final, Callum Pearson had another sub 2 minute run, finishing fourth in 1:59.0

Finlay Stanton won silver in the U13B race at the Midland Cross Country Championships on Saturday (25th) as seven C&S athletes competed at the event.

Our other competitor in the U13B, Henry Orton came 20th whilst in the U15B, Brandan Smart came 14th and Charlie Cresswell 21st.

Jack Hadley finished 10th and Luke Cresswell 48th in the U17M race and Beth Beeson came 34th in the U15G.

Our presentation evening took place at Stafford Rangers FC on 11 January.

During the evening, acknowledgement was given to the following, with apologies for any achievements that may have been missed.

We had a large number of medal winners at County and Area Championships last season – too many to mention individually but congratulations to everyone who won a medal in those events.

Cross Country

Our Senior Men are currently having a really good season, winning promotion to Division 1 of the NSCCL and looking good to gain promotion to Division 1 of the Birmingham & District League.

Also in the North Staffs League, Finlay Stanton won individual gold in the U13 age group, Jack Hadley silver in the U17, Bill Chesters finished 3rd in the Senior category and Dan Gambrill 3rd in the M35.

Six of our athletes represented Staffordshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, Ben Allen, Jack Hadley, Brandan Smart, Charlie Cresswell, Georgia Griffiths and Beth Beeson.

Nina Skilton and Malcolm Eustace were selected to represent England in the British & Irish Masters Cross Country International although Malcolm had to withdraw due to injury. Sue Kneill-Boxley was selected as a reserve and raced at the meeting.

Malcolm and Christine Kilkenny both won medals at the British Masters Cross Country Championships.

Track and Field

Men's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Rob Law

Women's Veteran's League Winners Trophy - Collected by Heather Bates

Veterans Male Athlete of the Year - Craig Carr

Young Athletes Lower Age Group, Leading Male Point Scorer - Xin Fu

Senior League, Leading Female Point Scorer - Mia Wainwright

Presidents Cup – This trophy was introduced by our past President, Derek Fellows, and is awarded to a person, or persons, who the President feels has provided great service to the club over the past 12 months. 

Bob Hughes, presented the trophy to Martin Roberts.

David Sunderland Memorial Award

Dave Sunderland was coach to a number of international athletes and was also a great supporter of schools athletics as well as being a coach at the club. When he died in 2014 we were given a trophy to present each year in his memory.

This year, the award was shared. As athletes who both compete over middle distance and won medals at English Schools, the winners were Georgia Griffiths and Callum Pearson.

Most Improved Young Athlete of the Year – This award is voted for by the club’s coaches and is presented to the athlete who, in the coaches’ opinion, has improved the most over the year. Sixteen coaches voted and the winner was Thomas Stephens.

Tom improved his 100m pb from 12.6 last year to 11.2 which ranked him as the quickest 100m runner in the club. He also improved his 200m from 25.3 to 23.43.

On Saturday (11th), our Senior Men came 6th on the day in the Birmingham & District Cross Country League at Worcester.

The result leaves them second in Division 2 and in a good position to gain promotion with only one meeting of the season left.

Tom Eustace came 4th in the race with Bill Chesters a place behind. Tom is currently 3rd overall and in with a chance of individual honours and Bill is 5th overall. Phil Wolfe came 40th, James Russell 53rd, Jon Biddle 67th and James McCann  in 102nd rounded off our A team scorers.

Craig Pearson finished 112th, Tom Orton 131st, Scott Rabin 143rd, Jamie Graham 149th, Danny Leighton 150th and Mark Green 182nd.

In the WMYACCL at Aldersley on Sunday, Finlay Stanton came 3rd in the U13B race. Ben Allen had a great race to finish 2nd in the U17M and Jack Hadley came 10th in the same race. Brandan Smart was another top 10 finisher, coming home 9th in the U15B race.

Katherine Grainger came 36th and Isla Unitt 54th in the U15G race and in the U13G race, Phoebe Segrove came 61st and Poppy Briscoe 77th. Elodie Pilsbury was our only competitor in the U17W race, finishing 43rd.